President Obama scraps Bush’s rule banning aid to countries that use child soldiers
Here’s some of the Obama foreign policy in action for you. This weekend, the White House issued a waiver for a Bush era rule that prevented the United States from sending foreign aid to countries that use children as soldiers.
from the White House (emphasis mine):
MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE
SUBJECT: Determination with Respect to the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008
Pursuant to section 404 of the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 (CSPA) (title IV, Public Law 110-457), I hereby determine that it is in the national interest of the United States to waive the application of the prohibition in section 404(a) of the CSPA with respect to Libya, South Sudan, and Yemen; and further determine that it is in the national interest of the United States to waive in part the application of the prohibition in section 404(a) of the CSPA with respect to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to allow for continued provision of International Military Education and Training funds and nonlethal Excess Defense Articles, and the issuance of licenses for direct commercial sales of U.S. origin defense articles; and I hereby waive such provisions accordingly.
You are authorized and directed to submit this determination to the Congress, along with the accompanying Memorandum of Justification, and to publish the determination in the Federal Register.
BARACK OBAMA
So, now the US will provide funds for military training, supplies, and licenses for the sale of weapons to countries that put children on the front lines. To make the matter even worse, the administration even singles out Libya as one of the countries receiving the waiver; a nation in which our embassy was just attacked by terrorists.
Human rights activists on every side of the aisle should be outraged at this.
Aid and comfort, anyone?
